Energy Data Saves UGX 300M on Solar and Cuts UGX 40M Per Year in Processing Costs

Background

JESA operates food and agricultural processing facilities in Uganda. Like many commercial facilities, JESA was exploring solar energy as a way to reduce electricity costs and improve operational resilience against grid instability. The company had received a solar proposal and was preparing to move forward with the investment.

At the same time, management was aware that the facility's energy costs were higher than expected relative to production output — but without granular data, identifying the source of inefficiency was difficult.

What We Did

Orijtech Energy deployed smart energy meters across JESA's facility, capturing consumption at the main incomer and at key process-level points — including the milk processing equipment, refrigeration systems, and production utilities. The data was streamed to the Orijtech Energy dashboard, where load profiles were analysed by time of day, day of week, and process stage.

What the Data Showed

On the solar investment: The consumption data revealed that the actual load profile was materially different from the estimates that had been used to size the proposed solar system. Estimated consumption had been higher than actual consumption at the times when solar generation would be available. The proposed system was oversized for JESA's real energy needs.

Right-sizing the solar system based on verified metering data reduced the required investment by UGX 300 million — while still meeting the facility's actual daytime load requirements.

On raw milk processing: The metering revealed that the energy cost of processing raw milk varied significantly depending on when in the day the process ran. Running processing during peak tariff hours was substantially more expensive than running the same process during off-peak hours. The underlying process was unchanged — only the scheduling.

Outcomes

1. The solar system was re-specified using actual load data. The investment dropped by UGX 300 million, and the return-on-investment timeline improved accordingly. JESA proceeded with a correctly sized system rather than an oversized one that would have taken years longer to pay back.

2. Milk processing was rescheduled to off-peak tariff windows. This operational change — requiring no capital expenditure — delivers UGX 40 million in savings every year.

Total first-year value: UGX 340 million, with UGX 40 million recurring annually thereafter.

"The monitoring showed us that our solar proposal was built on the wrong assumptions. The right data turned a good investment into a great one — and identified savings we hadn't even been looking for."